(CNN) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed reports of the deadly chemical attack in Syria's Idlib province last week as "100% fabrication," in an interview with news agency AFP at the presidential palace in Damascus.
Assad said the incident could not be taken seriously because the source of the information, he claimed, was al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria, Nusra Front.
He said the entire incident was "fabricated" and "unconvincing."
Asked if he had ordered the attack, Assad said the Syrian military had no chemical weapons and that it would not use them if it did.
"We gave up our arsenal three years ago," he said. "We have never used our chemical arsenal in our history."
He added that "morally" the Syrian government would never do this "because it's not acceptable."
Eighty-nine people were killed and others injured in the April 4 gas attack in Idlib province.
